Knights of the Golden Circle treasure maps (the KGC) must be dealt with on an individual basis and a simulation of what they were doing must be considered. You have the written maps, the maps cut in stone and in shaped stones. Then you have the signs that stand individually or collectively, which we will deal with in this article.

First, watch carefully for knot holes. They may not be genuine, but they were actually formed by drilling a hole with a bung boring tool.

Chemicals were then inserted in the hole to cause the tree to scar over the area making it appear to be a knot hole. Watch carefully for placement, multiples etc. as these are very important directives to find the next sign or the placement of the treasure.

Another treasure marker of the KGC is the ‘hoot owl tree’. The trees are shaped by breaking, bending and tying, weighting with rocks and even grafting. The KGC had many well trained in topiary and apothecary and could easily take nature and shape it to tell their story and most people do not pay any attention to what they see in the wilderness. At most they may make a comment concerning something unusual but seldom view these things as a treasure sign. For example, here is a hoot owl tree that was even divided and very unnatural. This photograph is only about one week old by the way! This tree was formed right after the Civil War. Directions to treasure, waypoints, signs and division of the treasure has been found in these trees.

So the next time you see a tree that looks unusual, perhaps you should stop and examine this. Watch also for items that are imbedded in the tree and have grown around them. Multiple shaped rocks, metal objects, pointers and the like are all common for them to use as signs and as pointers. Don’t forget to run that metal detector over the tree as some items are completely grown over and can not be seen.